Business: Tea is Trending Among Young Americans

Increasingly, young Americans aged 18-29 are opting for tea instead of coffee as their beverage of choice. In a seemingly ironic twist, data show that consumption of tea among young people is increasing in the United States while declining in the United Kingdom.

In a survey conducted last year by the National Coffee Association, 59% of Americans reported drinking a cup of coffee a day, down from 63% in 2013. In another survey conducted by YouGov, coffee and tea are preferred equally among 18-29 year olds, with and equal 42% choosing tea and 42% choosing coffee.This differs starkly with other age groups, as 70% of those aged 65+ and 62% of 45-64 year olds prefer coffee to tea.

Tea imports reflect this trend, as they have risen 30% in America and declined by 20% in the United Kingdom.The consequences of this trend include increasing business opportunities for tea in the US, as shown with Starbucks’ acquisition of Teavana, and greater pressure for coffee bean traders already worried about the recent fall in arabica bean prices.